Federer’s Swiss successor speaks out on daunting task of filling shoes

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Marc-Andrea Huesler has discussed the idea of filling Roger Federer’s footsteps after his surprise title win in Sofia. A week after the 20-time Grand Slam champion retired, his countryman completed a dream run at the ATP 250 event, capturing his first title and shooting 31 places up in the rankings.

Huesler was a surprise breakout champion at last week’s Sofia Open, defeating the likes of world No 15 Pablo Carreno Busta and No 27 Lorenzo Musetti en route to his maiden ATP final. And the 26-year-old capped off his fairytale week by downing Holger Rune to lift his maiden title, becoming the first Swiss man to lift a trophy since Federer in Basel three years ago.

The new world No 64’s rise was timed almost perfectly, coming the week after Federer ended his career at the Laver Cup. And Huesler has now discussed the task of filling Federer’s shoes in Swiss tennis, admitting that the 41-year-old’s results would be tough to match. “It’s hard to fill his footsteps for sure,” the Sofia Open champion told the ATP.

“He’s done so much for the sport. Watching him play on TV, in Davis Cup, no matter where, I honestly didn’t know half the time where he was playing, but he was basically just winning and made it look so easy.” Huesler said that he still had people in awe of his tennis despite his recent retirement, adding: “He just made the sport so interesting for so many people around the world who were just glued to the TV whenever he was playing. That’s still the case now.”

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The 26-year-old shared his sadness at seeing the former world No 1’s remarkable 24-year come to an end as he continued: “I remember in Basel when he was playing, the stadium, it was a different kind of energy there. It’s pretty insane to see that live. It’s sad that he has to stop, but he has his reasons and he has given us a lot of great moments.”

While he knew it would be no easy task following in Federer’s shadow, the Zurich native thought Swiss tennis was in a good place despite their biggest star retiring. “Obviously it’s not going to be easy [following his footsteps]. There are going to be Swiss people who [have been] spoiled by his results,” he confessed.

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“But on the other hand, now I also won an ATP tournament, so maybe some people will change their mind. Anyone who knows something about tennis knows that it’s not just a walk through the park to get to the Top 100.

“I feel like we have a couple of really, really good young Swiss players who are coming up the rankings. And probably also them seeing what I can accomplish pushes them on as well.”

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